The Great Jewel Robber

There’s “no honor among thieves” in Peter Godfrey’s The Great Jewel Robber, a solid if unexceptional noir about womanizing jewel thief Gerard Dennis, played by the solid if unexceptional David Brian, a second-tier Warner Brothers player accompanied here by William Lava’s distinctively Warners-quality orchestral score. Having escaped from a Canadian prison farm, Dennis borrows a page from Legs Diamond, among other noir sleazebags, using one woman after another (Perdita Chandler, Marjorie Reynolds, Jacqueline deWit, etc.) to get what he needs — money, transportation, healthcare, access to his next set of stones — on his way to wealth and independence. From the opening act, in which Dennis emerges from the fog only to recede back into it at the film’s end, Godfrey and cinematographer Hickox pump out noir style even if occasionally at the expense of a strong script (character motivations are often under-developed). For someone rarely given a starring role, Brian does well here, becoming increasingly sadistic and psychopathic as the film proceeds, his own volatility intensifying the suspense of his home invasions and thievery.